Are Turmo

Social exchange theory as an explanation of organizational citizenship behaviour among teachers

Primary processes in schools are hard to pin down despite attempts to measure central aspects of processes and outputs. For this very reason, it is important that teachers are motivated to go above and beyond their formal job responsibilities, a phenomenon called organizational citizenship behaviour. Social exchange theory is a theoretical explanation for organizational citizenship behaviour. This study examines a model of clear leadership and relational building between head and teachers as antecedents, and organizational citizenship behaviour as a consequence of teacher–school exchange. One purpose of this study is to explore the nature of exchanges between parties in the organization of teachers’ work and examine the relative impact of these aspects on organizational citizenship behaviour. The methodology adopted was a cross‐sectional survey of 234 secondary teachers. The structural equation analysis indicates a strong support for the importance of principal–teacher trust on social exchange and indirectly an impact on organizational citizenship behaviours. We also found some moderate support for the importance of clear leadership on organizational citizenship behaviours. This article presents suggestions for future research and possible implications for practice.

Learning about Students' Knowledge and Thinking in Science through Large-Scale Quantitative Studies.

The main issue addressed in this article is that there is much to learn about students’ knowledge and thinking in science from largescale international quantitative studies beyond overall score measures. Response patterns on individual or groups of items can give valuable diagnostic insight into students’ conceptual understanding, but there is also a danger of drawing conclusions that may be too simple and nonvalid. We discuss how responses to multiple-choice items could be interpreted, and we also show how responses on constructed-response items can be systematised and analysed. Finally, we study, empirically, interactions between item characteristics and student responses. It is demonstrated that even small changes in the item wording and/or the item format may have a substantial influence on the response pattern. Therefore, we argue that interpretations of results from these kinds of studies should be based on a thorough analysis of the actual items used. We further argue that diagnostic information should be an integrated part of the international research aims of such large-scale studies. Examples of items and student responses presented are taken from The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).RésuméL’article met à jour le fait que les études quantitatives internationales à grande échelle nous disent beaucoup, au-delà des mesures générales de scores, sur les connaissances et les pensées des élèves par rapport aux sciences. Les patterns des réponses données à des items individuels ou bien à des groupes d’items peuvent nous éclairer sur la compréhension conceptuelle des élèves, mais risquent de conduire à des conclusions trop simples et non-valides. On discute les moyens de systématiser et d’analyser les réponses à des items à choix multiple. Enfin, on étudie empiriquement les interactions entre certains caractéristiques des items et les réponses des élèves. On montre qu’il suffit d’une petite modification dans la manière de formuler et/ou formater l’item pour produire un effet substantiel dans le pattern de la réponse. Il s’ensuit que l’interprétation des résultats provenant de ce type d’études doit être basée sur une analyse approfondie des items administrés. Il s’ensuit également que l’information diagnostique peut être une partie constitutive des objectifs de recherche internationaux qu’on cherche à réaliser par ce type d’études à grande échelle. Les exemples présentés d’items et de réponses des élèves sont extraits de la Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Antecedents of Organizational Citizenship Behavior Among Educators in Language Education for Adult Immigrants in Norway

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is discretionary and is neither directly nor explicitly recognized by the formal reward system. OCB promotes the efficient and effective functioning of a school organization. The purpose of this article is to explore the antecedents of OCB among educators of adult immigrants in Norway and to examine the relative impact of these aspects on OCB. The study is rooted in theories that have their focal point in employees’ perceptions of exchange. The methodology involved was a cross-sectional survey of 764 educators. The structural equation analysis indicated that factors such as relational trust between the leader and educators and perceptions of social exchange have a strong positive effect on the educators’ OCB. The article concludes with a discussion of how social practice among educators and school leaders is mobilized for sustained extra-role behavior that is advantageous to the organization.

Antecedents of student teachers’ affective commitment to the teaching profession and turnover intention

Abstract Several European countries have experienced both a dearth of and reduction in the quality of applicants to teacher education study programmes. There is also significant leakage from these programmes. The rationale for this study therefore lies in the need to reduce teacher attrition. Research indicates that affective commitment to a profession is an important factor in sustaining good professional practice. This study explores the antecedents of both commitment and turnover intention among student teachers in Norway. The analysis indicates that there are stronger associations between commitment and experiences (particularly from dialogues with school mentors) gained during and after teaching practice in schools than is the case for the more campus-based elements of training. One implication is that there may be justification for placing emphasis on improving the preparation of school mentors and on points of contact between teacher educators and school mentors.

The strength of accountability and teachers’ organisational citizenship behaviour

Purpose – Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) involves discretionary behaviour advantageous to the organisation that goes beyond existing role expectations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between the strength of accountability and teachers’ OCB within three different management systems in which teachers are working: a system of assessment‐based accountability; a system of the gradual introduction of accountability devices; and a system with no tests or examinations.Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modelling of cross‐sectional surveys from the three different management systems was used to estimate the path coefficients and to compare the strength of relationships between concepts in the models.Findings – The analysis shows that the factors that influence OCB in an accountability regime are clearly different from those in a regime with weak or no accountability devices.Research limitations/implications – A cross‐sectional study does not allow us to test causal rela...

Exploring antecedents of organizational citizenship behaviour among teachers at Norwegian folk high schools

The folk high school (FHS) is a Nordic contribution to global education and is a unique approach to non-university adult education. Because expanded tuition is the true nature of Norwegian FHS, it is important for FHS that its teachers perform discretionary individual extra-role behaviour advantageous to the school organization, a phenomenon called organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). The purpose of this article is to explore the antecedents of organizational citizenship behaviour among teachers at Norwegian FHS and examine the relative impact of these aspects on OCB. The study is rooted in an integration of two strands of theories that have their focal point on employees’ perceptions of exchange: (1) Shores theory on employee–organization relationships and (2) Bryk and Schneiders theory on trust in schools. We tested a structural model using cross-sectional data. A questionnaire was distributed to all teachers at Norwegian folk high schools, which resulted in data from 366 teachers, representing a response rate at teacher level of 56%. The research strongly supports the importance of good relations between teachers and school leaders for OCB. The study also indicates that teacher commitment is an important mediating variable between relational trust between leader and teachers and OCB.

Investigating School-Wide Antecedents of Good Practice Dissemination from Individual Subject Projects.

Dissemination of innovative and good teaching practice or/and educational research as a tool for school improvement is an unsolved problem in education (Wikeley, 1998; Hargreaves, 1999, p. 133). Developing good practice and dissemination within the same school or from one school to another have been important in educational policies in several countries. In 2006 Norwegian authorities instigated a programme for school development via bottom-up innovation among teachers’ instructional practices. A total of 270 schools in several municipalities were selected on the basis of their projects’ quality. This study is linked to an evaluation of aspects of this programme. One purpose of this study is to explore antecedents of withinschool dissemination of innovative and good teaching practice. Another purpose is to examine the relative impact of these antecedents on withinschool dissemination.

Duration of On-Campus Academic Engagements of Student Teachers in Finland and Norway

ABSTRACTThe duration of on-campus academic engagements is an uncertain and highly debated indicator of study input. Researchers adopt this indicator with the expectation that student teachers must invest an amount of time and effort in their courses that more or less equals a normal workweek. In the present empirical study, we examine factors influencing the duration of student teachers’ on-campus academic engagements in Norway and Finland using survey data (n = 567). While the teaching profession is highly respected in Finland, and universities make selections for teacher education programs, the profession has a relatively low status in Norway. To meet the objectives of this study, we conducted an OLS regression analysis and found that students’ self-discipline and perceived study requirements are the most important predictors of the duration of their on-campus academic engagements. In addition, the motivation to achieve a goal is also significant, while no significant effect was found for intrinsic moti...

Organisational factors influencing teachers’ inner sense of affective commitment to their schools in high- and low-accountability environments

Affective commitment to a school organisation is a psychological link between a teacher and his or her school. The purpose of the article is to compare the statistical associations between organisational variables in a steering environment with assessment-based school accountability and in a steering environment without any assessments. We explore the link between the level of accountability and teachers’ affective commitment. The results indicate that accountability has an indirect effect on commitment via its effect on leadership. The results indicate that principal-teacher relationships play an important role in fostering commitment in both low- and high-accountability environments.

Organisational antecedents of teachers’ perceived time capacity to energise effort: A Norwegian study

Time capacity is defined here as the individual teacher’s perceived time for professional development (e.g., the capacity to develop and renew oneself as a teacher). The pressure of paperwork on the individual teacher should not be so demanding that it goes beyond the teacher’s time for professional development. The purpose of this paper is to explore factors influencing teachers’ individual time capacity at schools that report to external accountability systems. The methodology involved was a cross-sectional survey of 243 teachers from 11 schools in a Norwegian municipality. Structural equation analysis indicates that clear leadership and teacher-principal trustships influence teachers’ perceived time capacity mainly as mediated effects via social exchange. Implications for school practice and directions for future research are discussed.